THE heartbroken family of a Halton teenager whose body was found beneath the Silver Jubilee Bridge have spoken for the first time about her death.

Suzanne Bradshaw, 17, was discovered on the Widnes sandbanks at 8.21pm last Wednesday.

Although the events leading up to Suzanne's death are still being investigated by police, who suspect no suspicious circumstances, the family told the Weekly News she had recently been treated for depression following a series of worrying incidents.

Glenn Bennett, Suzanne's brother, said: 'Over the last six weeks Suzanne had not been herself.

'The police had to bring her home twice within a matter of weeks. The first was when she was spotted walking along the M62 and then again after she'd waded into the pond at Clincton Wood.

'Another time she was jumping out in front of cars on Prescott Road bridge.

'The police took her to Whiston Hospital on that occasion but she discharged herself.

'The Friday before last she was hiding naked in the bushes at Victoria Park.

'She was very distressed and tried to hit the police when they came.

'They took her to the Brooker Centre psychiatric unit in Runcorn and she was kept in over the weekend before being released on the Monday.'

Suzanne's sister, Sharon, described the former Wade Deacon pupil, of Widnes, as a bright but shy girl who had been affected by her mother's battle with terminal cancer.

She said: 'She was a quiet girl who loved drawing and had won an award for a poem she'd written.

'She loved watching the Widnes Vikings and used to go to the matches with her brother.

'Our mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2000 when Suzanne was only 10 and it hit her really hard.

'She idolised her mum and as time went by she began to lose interest in her hobbies and became closed-off.'